Portland’s first female harbor pilot Captain Susan Clark dies

CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — The first female harbor pilot for Portland Harbor and the first woman to join the elite Portland Marine Society has died at age 48.

Captain Susan Clark piloted more than 1,000 ships into Portland Harbor through Portland Pilots Inc., where she had worked since 2001. She died Thursday after a battle with cancer.

Harbor pilots climb aboard vessels before directing them into Portland Harbor. Captain San Juan “Sandy” Dunbar, who piloted ships into Portland Harbor for 38 years, told The Portland Press Herald that it’s the most perilous time in a ship’s voyage.

A service for will be held Friday at St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in Cape Elizabeth, followed by a celebration of Clark’s life at the Ocean Gateway Terminal in Portland.